1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a content reproducing apparatus, an audio reproducing apparatus, and a content reproducing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, growing numbers of people, increasingly conscious of their health conditions, have come to take up walking, jogging, or running as a preferred way to maintain and improve their health or stay generally in shape. To obtain a certain level of salutary effects from such activities usually demands the people to spend suitably prolonged periods of time on their athletic pursuit.
There have been proposed a number of audio reproducing apparatuses designed to support people in walking or running. Some of the proposed apparatuses are disclosed illustratively in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2001-299980, 2003-177749, and 2005-156641. One such apparatus is structured to be easy to carry by a user and stores songs of variable tempos. When the user takes a walk, for example, the apparatus detects the tempo of the walking and lets the user listen to songs of the tempo fit for the detected pace of walking. The tempo of walking is represented illustratively by the number of steps per unit time (e.g., per minute) and the tempo of songs by the number of beats per minute.
For example, if the walking tempo is 120 bpm (beats per minute), then the apparatus reproduces songs at a tempo of 120 bpm, such as marches. This type of audio reproducing apparatus allows the user to walk rhythmically in keeping with the tempo of the songs being played. The apparatus is thus supposed to afford the user a pleasing walking experience.
In this specification, the terms “walking” and “running” will be used separately only if these two activities need to be distinguished from each other. If there is no specific need to separate these activities, they may be simply referred to as walking or walk/run.